Journal of Midwifery

Publisher: UNIVED Press, Universitas Dehasen Bengkulu, Indonesia

Print ISSN 2338-7068  |  Online ISSN 2722-4228

Journal website: https://jurnal.unived.ac.id/index.php/JM

EDITORIAL POLICY • Proposed for Editorial Board approval

Policy framework

This policy governs scholarly submissions and publications in midwifery, reproductive health, maternal and newborn care. It should be read with the journal’s Author Guidelines, editorial ethics requirements and applicable law. Operational measures proposed here take effect only after approval and technical implementation by the Editorial Board and publisher.

1. Policy statement

The journal requires transparent disclosure and appropriate management of financial and non-financial competing interests among authors, editors and peer reviewers. An interest can exist when relationships may influence, or reasonably appear to influence, research conduct, reporting or editorial decisions; disclosure does not automatically disqualify a manuscript.

2. Relevant interests

Examples include industry-sponsored research, employment, consultancy, honoraria, speakers’ fees, travel support, intellectual property, paid advisory roles and interests in medicines, maternal-health devices, diagnostic kits or digital platforms evaluated in a study. Non-financial interests include close personal ties, competitive relationships, institutional leadership, policy advocacy and recent supervisory or collaborative relationships.

3. Authors’ duties

Each author must disclose relevant interests at submission and update them if circumstances change. Funding and sponsor involvement in study design, recruitment, monitoring, analysis, manuscript drafting and publication decisions must be described separately. Investigators must disclose sponsor restrictions affecting data access or independent reporting.

4. Editors’ duties

Editors must declare relevant interests and recuse themselves from manuscripts by themselves, close colleagues, family members or other parties where impartiality is compromised. Such submissions require an independent handling editor and ordinary peer-review standards. Publisher or institutional interests must not override editorial decisions.

5. Reviewers’ duties

Reviewers must disclose competing interests before accepting invitations, decline assignments where independence cannot be assured, keep manuscript information confidential and never use unpublished patient data or research findings for advantage. Reviewers must not demand irrelevant citations for personal benefit.

6. Disclosure management

The handling editor may seek further details, appoint independent reviewers or editors, or request clarification of sponsor control. A significant undisclosed interest identified after publication may require an updated disclosure, correction or further investigation under the misconduct policy.

7. Required declaration

No interests: “The authors declare that they have no financial or non-financial competing interests relevant to this work.” Disclosable interests: “The authors disclose the following competing interests: [specific relationship, entity and relevance].” A separate Funding Statement must describe each funder and any role in the research.

8. Governance

The journal should collect disclosures through OJS and print the author statement with the article. A proportionate approach guided by COPE and ICMJE principles must be applied consistently.

Policy governance and references

Policy authority: Editorial Board, Journal of Midwifery. Publisher: UNIVED Press, Universitas Dehasen Bengkulu, Indonesia. Status: proposed revised policy, pending formal approval. The Editorial Board should review the policy periodically and publish material amendments on the official journal website.

Professional guidance for adoption and periodic review:

ICMJE Recommendations: https://www.icmje.org/recommendations/

COPE: https://publicationethics.org/

CRediT Taxonomy: https://credit.niso.org/

EQUATOR Network: https://www.equator-network.org/

PRISMA 2020: https://www.prisma-statement.org/

Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/